A Day in the Life

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

I'm so glad the day is almost over! I was a ball of emotion today for many reasons. And by emotions I mean crabby, irritated, crying! Ah! I'm sure my students were just as glad to leave me as I was ;)

Tomorrow a couple of my colleagues and I will be teaching at our school's "University". It's something we designed for teachers to be better teachers! I'm excited for the opportunity but teachers are the worst! Ha! I just hope everyone finds our classes beneficial and not a waste of time!

I can't believe November is here. You better believe I have started my Christmas list! And if I only get a Canon Rebel, I'll be happy. And a Kindle. That's it. I swear.

Guess I didn't have much to write about, just felt like writing. I've been missing Jessie; tomorrow will be 7 months already! Wow.

I'm looking forward to cool weather, snow in the high country, and down comforters.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

The week is over! And I'm on fall break. Best break ever. Why? Because there is no pressure. No pressure to go on vacation, no pressure to have a plan every single day, and no pressure to plan for the next school week.

Really, my job is super. I had Thursday and Friday to sort of "catch up" on things and no students. I took this time to think about the chances of it raining next week so that I could get up in the morning, crawl downstairs with my down comforter, open the windows, and snuggle up on the couch and watch the boob tube all day. Doesn't that sound fabulous? Who cares if it's still 90 degrees out? I'm so looking forward to these days.

Last night, the hubs and I went to one of our favorite places, Amano. I love it because it's in our neck of the woods and it's a lovely neighborhood tiny restaurant with gourmet dishes but a casual atmosphere. I usually order the same thing and last time we went I had the pizza special, which was delicious. This time i tried the eggplant rollitini. Filling, but very good. It came with a side of orzo with garlic and collard greens and roasted veggies. Yum! I went to bed at a modest 8:30, falling asleep on the wrong side of the bed, and woke up at a lovely 8:00. Wow. We hit up the gym, then I proceeded to eat more food with my sis. I really like food.

Anyhoo, I'm a little late, but I'm ready to bust out the fall / Halloween decorations soon. I first have to find them. My first attempt at the attic was unsuccessful. I'm sure they're in the garage. Of course I wouldn't look in the easy spot first. That is my Saturday evening. What's yours?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Every day for the past two weeks I've said, "I can't believe it's already _________ (insert day of week)!" It's sort of a good thing the weeks are going by fast, I guess. I don't know what we're rushing along for, but it always makes work feel a little easier.

This past weekend, J and I went to Flagstaff and brought the dogs with us. It was quite an adventure from the car ride, them having lunch with us (and Chase getting loose and wanting to hang out with us), and even going to the park for Octoberfest and the great dog park that Flagstaff has. The weather was wonderful and it was a nice, relaxing time. I was excited we got to see my brother. I'm so glad he decided to go to NAU and he is too! It's such a great place. Ahhh.

Anyway, this week is testing so we don't have any groups. Yesterday I got tons of work done and I'm hoping to do the same this week. Jonathan has fall break this week so he's been catching up on HIS laundry (he is terrible with laundry!) so it's been nice to come home to less to do. We also decided to join the gym they just opened in our neighborhood. I'm SO excited to start going. And I'm really going because it is so close and J is a great motivator. We went last night and did 20 minutes of cardio, then about 45 minutes of machine stuff (build me some muscle!). I'm also interested in their yoga class and I think I'll go tomorrow. Doing yoga at a gym is such a better deal than a yoga studio. Even though the levels might not be as varied, I'd rather pay $25 a month for a gym than $150 for a month of yoga!

This weekend is Megan and Andrew's wedding (don't cha love weddings?!) and that is about all we have planned. I have one more week of school after this week and then I get fall break. Yay! It kinda stinks we don't have the same fall break now since I switched districts but I'm kind of a loner and enjoy that time :)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Music has always been something I've treasured. I've used it to cheer me up. I've used it to sulk. I've used it to reminisce, cry, laugh, move, quote. It's always had a huge effect on me.

Sometimes I go through music ruts. I wait for new songs or artists and nothing shows us or impresses me. When this happens I revert back to oldies but goodies: Third Eye Blind, Tori Amos, Vanessa Carlton, and songs that make me think of college from The Starting Line, Finch, The Used, etc.

This Tuesday a new CD came out that got me excited about music again. Jimmy Eat World's Invented felt like a CD I haven't listened to in a while and seriously missed. I've been listening to JEW since high school and it's gotten me through some rough times. They always have a way of putting words to things I can't express. It always seems like the albums were written for me. Their songs are timeless and I will never get sick of hearing the intro to 23 or the Weatherford and Casey Moore's references in If You Don't, Dont (hey, I lived right there!). Nothing will remind me of sitting at the McConnell desk in college than A Sunday or Crush. In 2004, Polaris accompanied me on many solo drives in Flagstaff when I needed alone time to think.

Their new album isn't breakthrough or amazing or completely different from anything they've done, but that's why I love it. It's familiar and it speaks to me. And those connections that people have are the only things that should matter to musicians.

I'll gladly sing my Whooooaaaa-ohhh-oh-ohhhhhs on October 30th at the Marquee and feel tingly and teary-eyed when 23 is played.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Wowza! It's Friday already tomorrow! Hard to believe that we were in Flagstaff a week ago tomorrow. The madness! Yes, madness. Lots and lots of fun... it's hard to go back there and not be in college mood. Lots of wine was consumed, a little dancing was done, some things were lost, and a good time was had by all. That is all.

Mooooooving on... this week actually went pretty fast, minus a few bumps in the road that got me in a cruddy mood for a little bit. I sort of milked it though. I told J I wasn't having that great of a day yesterday and that some Pizzeria Bianco was needed. So of course he obliged. We got there later than normal due to work and meetings, got in the first seating, AND there was still seats left after everyone went in. It was rare form. But so delicious, as always.

Not much is happening this weekend but coming up I have a wedding shower, a wedding, and a weekend with the boys. I think we're going to take a trip up north (and I'm taking a sick day!) and bringing the dogs with us. It's almost fall break time. Well, J has his two weeks before mine so we'll be using his for our stay-cation time :)

That's about all the boring things happening in my life ;) I'm catching up on Teen Mom and some DVR'd shows, then it's bedtime. I LOVE going to bed before 9. Such a loser, I know.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Happy Thursday! I'm getting super duper excited for this weekend and Flagstaff! I just checked the weather and it's going to be nice and chilly ;)

Yesterday was J & I's 6 month wedding anniversary! Yes, we celebrated six months. We went out to Postino's for some delicious bruschetta and creme brulee, then we went home and opened up our Vintage Dom Perignon champagne we received as a gift. We drank the whole bottle, which wasn't very difficult. I didn't wake up with a headache or anything so I guess that's a good sign.

This week has been kind of crazy at work. I have yet to get groups in here. Hopefully tomorrow. There's been a lot of schedule changes which has made my job even more difficult since the sixth grade schedule was all over the place to begin with. I'm excited to get working with kiddos. I'm going to have very small groups and of course every teacher thinks they're going to perform miracles. The middle school is sort of a stressful place for a teacher, especially with a population like ours. It's really our last chance to help them out and keep them in school and hope hope hope that they don't drop out. It's a very defeating feeling when you've given everything to work with students and they don't make the right choices. Such is our job, though! All you can hope for is that the students realize that you genuinely care about them and even if they say nothing to you, hope that you made some sort of smidgen of difference in their life. No pressure!

In other news, we have a new addition to our family: a kitten! I honestly do not like cats and never thought I'd want to adopt one, but it was so hard having our foster babies in our house since they were four weeks old and not wanting to keep one! We went to the Humane Society to see if any of them were left. We really went back for one (with the patch on his eye) and ended up getting the crazy jumper, climber, and scratcher. His name is Charlie and he's calmed down quite a bit. He's really funny. The dogs are used to him by now and his shenanigans. They were picking on him a little this morning, which was fun to watch. No more pets!

I'm off to eat our Rosh Hashanah leftovers with the leadership team and continue working away. Have a super weekend!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Whew, what a busy week! Really glad tomorrow is Friday and I can have some R & R with the husband!

On Sunday, my sister and I saw Something Corporate. Now if you are a SoCo fan, you'll know it was always thought impossible to hear Konstantine live. Well we did and it was just as perfect as I could've imagined it! The show was awesome. So much great energy and a lot of "mature" fans, so it's wasn't super obnoxious :)

This week has been a little hectic at work doing really obnoxious test scanning (over and over and over because of a glitch). I'll tell you it feels a little more than a glitch when you have over 40 teachers with 30 something kids in them with tests in two subjects. Ahhh! I finally got to test some kids today and started getting excited about working with kiddos again.

On Saturday we may be getting our kitties out to finally be adopted. This week they have hit what seems like the terrible twos. They are full of energy and climb like little monkeys! Our house could use a break from the madness. They have to weigh two pounds so we're filling their bellies up :)

I book our weekend for Flagstaff! Katy, Allison, Jenn and I will be having a girls weekend up there. Very excited! And I will get to take my brother out because... Today he moved in to his dorm! It's so weird to think that I was his same age when I was up there for the first time. Sort of scary to be honest. I hope he likes it and does well!

Maxxing and relaxing and heading to bed! I loved going to bed so early!